The new Sunderland manager lost his first game in charge away to Aston Villa on Tuesday.
Chris Coleman’s reign as Sunderland manager got off to a losing start on Tuesday as the Black Cats suffered a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
Optimism largely surrounded the 47-year-old’s appointment as Simon Grayson’s successor, but history suggests things may get worse before they get better for Sunderland.
Coleman’s Wales tenure is rightly regarded as successful, but he suffered an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Costa Rica in his first match in charge.
The Red Dragons lost their next four matches too, including a 6-1 hammering by Serbia, before finally tasting victory against Scotland in October 2012.
It was not until the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign began in September 2014 that Wales started to show progress under the former Fulham boss.
This suggests that Coleman will not be a quick fix and will need time to instill the same belief and togetherness at Sunderland that eventually made Wales one of the best teams in Europe.
But with the Black Cats bottom of the Championship table, Coleman can’t afford to start as slowly as he did at Wales otherwise the damage may already have been done in their relegation fight.
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